US teacher accused of sexually assaulting student
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Former Cumberland Valley High School teacher Emily Nesbit is accused of having a sexual relationship with a student. Courtesy Fox 43.

news.com.au

18 Mar 2014

News/World

Several teachers have been charged or jailed for having sexual relationships. Picture: ThinkStockSource: News Limited

SHE is accused of sending racy photos to a teenage student and performing a sex act in a school classroom.

Now former US teacher Emily Nesbit is facing a raft of charges after the alleged sexual relationship became public.

The 31-year-old English teacher who worked at Cumberland Valley High School in Pennsylvania resigned last week over the scandal which has gripped the community.

Nesbit admitted to having sex with the student, including on at least one occasion in a school classroom, the New York Daily News reported.

The investigation into the student/teacher relationship was sparked after a friend of the student found the racy texts and photos on his phone.

Former teacher Emily Nesbit is accused of having a sexual relationship with a teenage student. Picture: Screengrab/Fox 43Source: Supplied

The school soon learned of the relationship on March 10 and Nesbit resigned just two days later.

She turned herself in to police and on Friday was charged with institutional sexual assault.

The 18-year-old student, who listed Nesbitt on the device as “my lady friend”, admitted to police that a sexual relationship took place.

Under Pennsylvanian law, it is illegal for a teacher to have sex with a student, regardless of their age and Nesbitt now faces up to seven years in jail.

One US expert said sexual relationships of this kind were about power and control for the offender. Leading psychologist Dr Stuart Bassman said it was also about being attracted to innocence.

Nesbit’s case isn’t the first time a female teacher is accused or charged with having a sexual relationship with a student.

In January, a female teacher was granted bail for allegedly conducting a sexual relationship with a male special needs student at a Brisbane high school.

The relationship between the 15-year-old student and the teacher took place during 2011 and 2013, the Courier-Mail reported.

The special needs student was described by the school as having “the highest level of impairment”.

The 26-year-old teacher was left facing five counts of carnal knowledge of a child aged under 16 and five counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16.

At least one sexual encounter allegedly took place in a classroom at Cumberland Valley High School. Picture: Screengrab/Fox 43Source: Supplied

In Britain, a drama teacher has admitted having a sexual relationship with a pupil that came to light after they visited a sexual health clinic together.

Kelly Ann-Marie Burgess, 26, pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual activity with the boy, who was 16 when the affair started.

Burgess claimed she was “assisting” the boy by taking him to get “checked out” after sexual contact with a girl his age. But ‘explicit’ text exchanges, which had synched from the teacher’s mobile to laptop, told another story.

Burgess is due to be sentenced on April 7.

In a separate case, a Sydney teacher was forced to resign from her post at an all-boys Catholic school in January after reportedly having sex last year with at least two Year 12 students.

Both students at St Aloysius’ College were aged over 16, Sky News reported.

The teacher’s relationship was discovered by one of the boy’s parents and the teacher was reported.

US teacher Meredith Powell found herself in the spotlight in February after she was accused of having a sexual relationship with two 15-year-old students at Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Washington.

The former maths teacher allegedly performed a sex act on a 15-year-old, the Huffington Post reported. The 24-year-old was also accused of having sexual contact with another 15-year-old student during a school assembly.

According to court documents, she admitted the sex acts took place but pleaded not guilty to two counts of third-degree child rape.

Having sex with students has not only ended in job losses and scandal but has also resulted in jail terms.

In Singapore, a female teacher was sentenced to a year in jail for having sex with a 15-year-old boy in her school in 2012. The 32-year-old, who was married with two children, began a relationship with the student after she started counselling him.

A Singapore court was told that she wooed the boy with gifts including a copy of best-selling book Eat, Pray, Love.

The pair reportedly had a relationship for a month before the boy’s parents found out and reported her to the school.

Under Singapore law, an adult found guilty of having sex with anyone under the age of 16 — even if it’s consensual — faces up to 10 years in jail.

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